Default Image We do not have a
Photograph at present.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

Cossham Street Methodist Church,
Cossham Street,
Mangotsfield, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Church did NOT have a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded in 1836, but we understand it was closed in 1965.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/327/2/1/11) for a place of meeting for Primitive Methodists in Mangotsfield describes a separate building, used exclusively as a place of worship, erected in 1836. There were 70 sittings "available for worship" and "30 sittings lett", with standing room "only an Entrance". The average congregation was 80 in the afternoons, and the return was completed by Charles Watkins, a Local Preacher, who lived in "Mangotsfield Near Bristol". He supplied a name for the chapel, but it is difficult to decipher. He appears to have started writing "Primitive", but this has been erased, and overwritten with what looks like "A Bened Chapel".

The location of a building labelled "Methodist Chapel (Primitive)" may be seen on Old Maps from 1881-1882. By 1958-1965 it is labelled as "Cossham Street Methodist Church". This corresponds with a building visible on a Google StreetView image of 2012 which is in use by "Choice Laundry".

The chapel also had a Sunday School attached, which likewise is now in commercial use. Both buildings are constructed of dark stone, with lighter stone dressings, having a central doorway, on either side of which are round-arched windows with radial glazing. Above the doorway in the school is a board with the legend "Old School House", and in the wall above that, a third window. The Chapel has a (presumed) dedication plaque in place of the window, but unfortunately, it is no longer readable.

The date of its closure is reflected in the following notice in The London Gazette of 26th February 1965 (p.2045):

The Registrar General, being satisfied that METHODIST CHAPEL, Cossham Street, Mangotsfield in the registration district of Kingswood in the county of Gloucester is no longer used as a place of worship by the congregation on whose behalf it was on 24th October 1918, registered for marriages in accordance with the Marriage Act, 1836, has cancelled the registration. Dated 23rd February 1965.

Denomination

Now or formerly Primitive Methodist.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church was located at OS grid reference ST6649976132. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Cossham Street Methodist Church, Mangotsfield shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Mangotsfield shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Mangotsfield, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Notices of Civil Registration of Places of Worship for marriages are published in the London edition of The Gazette. Hint: search for registrations from 1998 by choosing 'Church' notices, and the option 'Registration for solemnising marriage'. (verified 2018-12-11)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.